You can move this picture: drag it, press and hold then drag on a touch screen, or use the arrow keys.Printable guide 10.19

The Clay Hole University · Surface and Decoration

The History and Tradition of Makers MarksPrintable pottery guide

Where marks on pots came from, five ways to make your own, and a stamp that still reads after the glaze. A workbook for the bottom of every pot you make.

$5.005 guides, 1 free
  • Skill level: Beginner
  • 19 printable pages
  • 2 video picks
  • 8-question quiz + answer key

Flip through the free sample
  • Instant download
  • Prints on any home printer
  • The full lesson stays free online
The printable, at a glance

What is the printable guide for The History and Tradition of Makers Marks?

It is a printable workbook edition of The Clay Hole University’s free “The History and Tradition of Makers Marks” lesson. It starts with the long history, from workshop stamps on Roman pottery to reign marks and factory marks, and why almost none of those marks was about pride. Then it gets practical: five ways to mark a pot, how to make your own stamp, carved mirrored and bisqued unglazed, where and when to press it, and how to design a mark that survives a glaze firing. On paper it adds a log for the marks you try under your own glaze, the whole mark on one page, a printed quiz with a full answer key, and a glossary.

Prefer to read it online first? The lesson “The History and Tradition of Makers Marks” is free, and always will be.

  • 19printable pages, US Letter
  • 8quiz questions, with a full answer key
  • 2hand-picked videos, each with a QR code
  • 13glossary terms in plain language
  • 2workbook pages you fill in yourself
Why a printable, for this one

A mark is a small design that has to survive a kiln

Almost everything that goes wrong with a maker’s mark goes wrong in the kiln, which is the expensive place to find out. Carved forwards instead of mirrored. Too fine, so glaze fills it and rounds every edge. Stamped after the clay was past leather hard, so it cracks. Each one has a one line fix, and none of them is a skill.

The history is the part to enjoy on a screen. The making is the part to have in front of you, with a pencil, while you draw the design at final size and flip it over.

It is also a slow project. Carve the stamp one night, bisque it with the next load, test a tile under your own glaze the week after. A printed page remembers where you got to in a way a browser tab does not.

Look inside

Real pages, for the bench and the test tile

These are actual pages from the guide, shown here with the sample watermark. The full guide has none.

  • Page 6 of the “The History and Tradition of Makers Marks” printable guide: five ways to mark a pot, shown with the sample watermark
    Five ways to mark a potA pressed stamp, a carved signature, underglaze, an oxide wash and a rubber blank, with what each one does under a glaze.
  • Page 7 of the “The History and Tradition of Makers Marks” printable guide: making the stamp, then pressing it, shown with the sample watermark
    Making the stamp, then pressing itThe steps from a plug of clay to a bisqued stamp, then leather hard, a hand inside the base, and straight down.
  • Page 10 of the “The History and Tradition of Makers Marks” printable guide: what goes wrong, shown with the sample watermark
    What goes wrongMirrored, illegible after glazing, a bulge, a crack, a stuck stamp and a smear. Each with the cause and the fix.
  • Page 9 of the “The History and Tradition of Makers Marks” printable guide: the marks i have tried, shown with the sample watermark
    The marks I have triedOne line per mark: how it was made, how big, and what it read like on a test tile under your own glaze.
Flip through the free sampleTen pages, free, no email required.
Paper beats the screen here

It is a slow project with a kiln in the middle

You carve on one night and bisque with the next load, and the answer to whether the mark worked comes a week later. A page you wrote on is how you remember what you did.

  • Mirrored, in writing

    Write it backward, or draw it, turn the paper over and trace through. One line on a page you have in front of you while you draw.

  • Draw it at final size

    Most designs that look good large fall apart at half an inch across. The worksheet is the right size to find that out on paper first.

  • The pressing window

    Leather hard, a hand inside the base, straight down and straight up. Three conditions, all on one page.

  • A log of the marks you try

    Method, size, and what each one read like under your glaze. That is how your third mark is better than your first rather than just different.

How the guide is built

Built for a slow project, not a five minute demo

Every guide in the series is designed as a workbook first and a document second. For this one, that means:

  • A learning dashboard before page one

    What you will learn, what is on the table, the mistakes that get made first, and what success looks like at the test tile.

  • The history, kept short and in order

    Six steps from a workshop stamp on Roman pottery to the signature a studio potter carves today, and what each era was really asking.

  • Five ways, side by side

    Stamp, carve, paint, wash or rubber blank, with what each does once a glaze goes over it.

  • The stamp, step by step

    Eight numbered steps from a sketch at final size to a spare stamp in the drawer, with the test in scrap where it belongs.

  • Videos you can reach from a printed page

    Each video has a note on why it is worth your time and a code that goes straight to it.

  • Plain words for the jargon

    A glossary written the way we would explain it sitting across the table from you.

Why the University is free

The lesson is free. It always will be.

All of the teaching in this guide comes from the free “The History and Tradition of Makers Marks” lesson at The Clay Hole University. No paywall, no sign-up, no catch.

A mark is how your mug finds its way home off a full shelf, and how you read your own work a year from now. Learning how to make a good one should not cost anything, so the lesson stays free.

The University is free and stays free. The guides are the version rebuilt for paper with an unreasonable amount of care, and buying one keeps the free side going.

Thank you. Genuinely.

Dan Pearce, founder of The Clay Hole
Collect them

Build a little pottery library

Every guide carries a permanent number. This one is 10.19, in the surface and decoration section, alongside underglaze, carving and texture. The number never changes and never gets reused, so a shelf of them stays in order.

Put any five printable guides in your cart and the cheapest one is on us. Put in nine and the two cheapest are on us. It happens automatically at checkout, no code to remember.

See every printable guide

  • 5guides in your cart1 on us
  • 9guides in your cart2 on us
Where this leads

Once you have a mark you want on everything

These lessons pick up where this one leaves off. Each one is free to read now.

Good questions

Before you buy

Is this different from the free lesson?
The teaching is the same, and the free lesson is complete. The printable adds a log for the marks you try, the whole mark on one page, a printed quiz with an answer key, and a glossary.
Do I need any special tools?
A small plug of clay, a needle tool or carving loop, paper and a pencil, a scrap of clay to test in, and a pinch of cornstarch. Iron or cobalt wash is optional.
Why did my mark come out backward?
The stamp was carved the way it reads instead of mirrored. The guide gives the fix: write it backward, or draw it, turn the paper over and trace through, then press it into scrap before you bisque the stamp.
Should I glaze my stamp?
No. Bisque it and leave it unglazed. A glazed stamp sticks to wet clay and tears the impression as it lifts.
When do I press it into the pot?
At leather hard, with a hand inside the base, straight down and straight up. Wet clay distorts around the stamp, and clay past leather hard cracks.
My mark disappears under glaze. What do I do?
Carve deeper and simplify it, or rub an iron or cobalt wash into the impression on the bisque and wipe the surface back. The guide covers both.
I am not at The Clay Hole. Is it still useful?
Yes. It needs a table, a lump of clay and a kiln firing somewhere. Nothing in it depends on our studio.
Do I need a fancy printer?
No. It is designed for an ordinary home or office printer on regular US Letter paper, with nothing important near the edges, so normal printer margins cut nothing off.
Can I print it in black and white?
Yes. Nothing depends on color, and we looked at the workbook pages in grayscale to be sure.
Can I use it on an iPad or laptop instead?
Yes. Every QR code in the guide is also a tappable link, so on a screen you just tap instead of scanning.
How do I get it after I buy?
Right after checkout you get a download link by email and on your order confirmation page. Each link works up to seven times.
What if the guide gets updated?
Every edition carries a version number. When we correct or improve a guide, everyone who bought it gets an email with the new edition at no charge.
Can I share it with my class or studio?
Please don’t. It is licensed for your own personal use. Anyone can read the full lesson free online, and the printable is here if they want their own copy.

Print it, and go and carve your mark

Draw it at final size, flip it over, carve it deeper than feels right, and test it in scrap before the kiln. Then log how it read under your glaze. By the third one you will have a mark you want on the bottom of everything you make.

Get the printable · $5.00

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